Arsenal were more than a little fortunate to get away with all the points at Elland Road but the referee was proved right to wait almost 40 minutes to get their tech working as he got both penalty calls wrong and needed VAR to save him.

Bukayo Saka’s thunderous finish in the first half against Leeds was enough to grab all three points and keep Arsenal top of the league.

Had Leeds got anything worth taking about at the top end of the pitch, Arsenal would have left with nothing, such was the battering they took in the second half.

While the Gunners dominated the first, the second was all Leeds as Arsenal’s legs tired badly.

Having made the decision to wait until the issue with power was resolved so he could make full use of the VAR tech, Kavanagh will no doubt be congratulating himself on that decision after it came to his rescue, sort of, on more than one occasion.

A handball by William Saliba, which was indeed a penalty for Leeds, was initially missed by Chris Kavanagh.

When it went to VAR, Paul Tierney had no trouble spotting it, although he did ignore the clear offside in the build-up.

That’s justice because Leeds were offside in the buildup to the handball. Not sure why it wasn’t called when the broadcast clearly showed it in the buildup to the handball call. #LEEARS pic.twitter.com/FRl3IPk4hJ

— ínvìnciblog (@invinciblog) October 16, 2022

Patrick Bamford, in search of his 100th goal, missed and some justice was restored to the situation, although Leeds’ fans will probably feel differently.

Not long after six minutes were signalled at the end of the second half, the ref once again pointed to the spot for Leeds. He also issued a straight red card to Gabriel for a foul on Bamford.

But it was Tierney on VAR who, once again intervened, to help the ref out, highlighting that Bamford had actually fouled Gabriel.

The red was rescinded, a yellow was issued for Gabriel’s stupid kick-out, and the penalty overturned.

Some are asking why the red didn’t still stand for the kick-out regardless, but it clearly wasn’t given for that.

Denying a goalscoring opportunity when a penalty is also given can still see a red issued if there is no attempt to play the ball. Think David Luiz v Wolves.

The red was for the perceived foul that led to the penalty.

As the penalty was overturned, the red had to be, also.

A yellow was then given for the kick-out, which we could argue might have been a red, but that’s not how the ref saw it.